Oct 1, 2012

* See Ya In the Gumbo potluck HERE until FridayThis is Week 3 of the Muy Beuno Cookbook Spotlight & Cook-Off hosted by Heather of Girlichef. Review week. Wrap-up week.

This is also the week I'll be starting the GIVEAWAY. Hippocrene has generously allowed each cook-off participant to hold a Muy Bueno Cookbook giveaway.

All you have to do is leave a comment below. One winner will be drawn at random and announced October 7 @ my Sunday evening See Ya In the Gumbo potluck. Hippocrene will mail the cookbook to the winner. Giveaway is open to US Residents only. GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.

Trust me, you don't want to miss the chance to have this cookbook in your collection.
Oh, and if you wanted to give me a little follow, that would be fine and dandy too.

A list of participating bloggers can be found here. Every participant is hosting a giveaway.

A huge thank you to Heather for inviting me to be a part of this cook-off. It's always fun to cook with a group. And it was made even more fun because of this cookbook. I'm not just saying that...I have gobs of recipes marked "to try" from Muy Bueno.

I knew I had to try this since it's something the ladies of Muy Bueno serve for Thanksgiving. It's well known that Thanksgiving dishes are the stunners that you pull out for an impressive holiday table. Cooking roasted peppers in buttermilk was unusual to me, but the buttermilk provided a perky tang.

Last week Javelin Warrior made these Chiles w/ Buttermilk. Look HERE for instructions.

However, out of all the recipes I tried from the Muy Bueno Cookbook, the dish below stole the show.

Cheese & Shrimp Stuffed Poblanos(Chile Rellenos de Camaron y Queso)

I'm not thrilled with the quality of the pictures, but by the time I realized how bad they were, the peppers were gone. Yep. We inhaled them. These poblanos were so good! The only negative was that the filling was supposed to be for 8 peppers. I roasted 6 and barely had enough for those--my peppers were huge. So, watch for that.

Healthier, more sophisticated, and less messy to make than traditional battered and fried chile rellenos (one of my all time favs). The sauce is garlicky and creamy and perfect for the simple filling of shrimp and roasted red peppers. Lime juice gives a freshness and lightness to the filling. The whole package gives mucho satisfaction.

I liked that the book centers around 3 generations worth of family food. If you've been a reader here for any amount of time, you know I'm totally into how food preserves the past not only for individual families, but for entire cultures.

The "Drinks" section was particularly interesting to me, containing stories about El Chupacabra (the goat sucker)--which I am familiar with, and La Llorona (the weeping woman)--which I had not heard of.

There's still a long list of recipes I want to try: Sopaipillas, Cheese w/ Roasted Chile Tamales, Green Enchiladas, Spicy Mushroom Torta ...turn a page and there's another one.

I think what I like most of all about the Muy Bueno Cookbook is that there is something for everyone and something for any event--big or small. If you're looking for authentic Mexican food, you can find it. If you don't have a lot of time to prep and cook an authentic dish, you'll find other, more modern dishes that are faster to make. There are rich, savory dishes and light, fresh dishes. There are rustic tortas and fancy apps and drinks. The recipe offerings are abundant and varied and I think will produce many make-again dishes in your kitchen.

DON"T FORGET--comment below for a chance to win your own copy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*This post is part of the Muy Bueno Cookbook Spotlight & Cook-Off sponsored by Hippocreneand hosted at girlichef**I was provided with a free copy of the cookbook. The review and images of the food are my own.*
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I went out and purchased all of the ingredients for this today and landed up making the sopapillas instead. I guess I know what we are having for supper tomorrow, especially after seeing it on here. It sounds so good. I can't wait to give it a try.

now I think your peppers look great, love the flavor of roasted poblanos and with shrimp, hell yeah! and I am also intrigued with the roasted peppers with buttermilk, so much I am hunting down the recipe...

I saw this recipe feature at Simple Living and just had to pop over and drool....er...I mean leave a comment. Those look amazing! Yes, even the photo looks great. We're always so hard on ourselves, aren't we?Pinning this! :-)